


Anger Management

by Donotquestionme



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, No Shipping Focus, movie-verse future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-17 17:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1396468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donotquestionme/pseuds/Donotquestionme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Thor is Bruce's anger management coach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anger Management

Thor was sitting in the front room of Avenger's mansion reading a book on astrophysics that Jane had gotten him. He was unfamiliar with many of the terms that it used, but the concepts that he could decipher were fairly familiar to him. He always found it so interesting how human "science" and Asguardian "magic" were so similar. Jane also seemed to find it fascinating. She'd taken to dismantling every gift he brought her from Asguard, though she had stopped when she realized that it was bothering him. An official "No dismantling/dissecting/disassembling or otherwise destroying  gifts meant to have sentimental value" policy for the both of them.

Thor was halfway through a sentence about something starting with "Transdimensional" when his peaceful reading was abruptly interrupted by the door violently bursting open.

Bruce Banner stormed in, pulling a tie from his neck and throwing it to the ground as he walked.

Tony, Steven, and Bruce had been at a press conference today. Thor was, as per normal, not invited. It seemed as though everything did not go well.

"Friend Banner!" Thor called, cheerfully. "How fared the conference of pr--"  Banner cut him off.

"Anger Management." He seethed. _"Now."_

Bruce did not turn to look at Thor, keeping his eyes fixed forward as he walked, but Thor caught a glimpse of his irises for a moment. They were bright green. Bruce blinked hard and they returned to their normal brown hue.

Things had most certainly not gone well.

The team had decided that it was unhealthy and possibly even dangerous for Bruce to always suppress his anger and had agreed that he should be able to "Hulk-Out" and de-stress regularly. Bruce was hesitant at first. He was always reluctant to give his mighty other self any more control, for fear of what harm could befall others should the Hulk not be contained.  Eventually he relented after much convincing that suppressed anger could rear its head at the most inopportune or even dangerous times. So it was decided that he would have place constructed in the mansion where Bruce could transform in relative safety and, since Thor was the only one who could take a punch from Hulk and live, he was given the position of Bruce's official anger management councilor, along with Hulk's sparring partner.

Thor had taken up the position readily. He was happy to help Banner or any of his other teammates in any way he could and he greatly enjoyed sparring with Hulk. It was rare to find someone with whom he could engage in friendly combat without hurting as well.

"Excellent!" Thor exclaimed.  "Shall I bring Mjö--"

 **"Yes"** Bruce growled, cutting him off again.

His voice was distinctly lower than normal and had a bass quality that did not belong to the good doctor. He must have been barely containing his rage.

Thor wasted no time calling his weapon to him and following Bruce to the training room.

The training room was a large gymnasium type of room that Tony had designed to test and hone the skills of each of the Avengers. It had multiple automated training routines and could repair and reconfigure itself after every session.  It also had a "lock down" mode for their sparring sessions that sealed and covered the doors and retracted all training equipment, leaving the room a giant, empty metal box. The walls, floor, and ceiling were reinforced with  adamantium along with several force field generators and audio repulsers.  Bruce had poured over the designs, constantly insisting more stringent precautions, while Tony, in turn, argued for laxer ones.  Eventually they'd come to this compromise.

Tony was confident that the room was "Hulk  proof" as he put it. Thor was not so sure. He was not confident that there were any bonds that would contain the Hulk, if he truly wished to be free.

When Thor entered the room, Bruce had removed his suit jacket and thrown it to the floor. His back was to Thor.  Thor pressed his palm to the hand pad on the wall, activating the room's lock down mode.

Bruce started to change as soon as the doors clicked locked. His growing form shredded his dress shirt. The tattered bits of fabric fells to the floor.

Bruce usually removed his shirt, folded it, and put it in one of the lockers for safe keeping. He must have truly been on the very edge of his control.

Thor rolled his shoulders and strengthened his stance and grip on Mjölnir.

Hulk let out a roar of frustration and turned to Thor.

Thor grinned.

"Shall we?" he asked.

And so they sparred. Hulk's attacks were erratic as usual. His fighting style mostly consisted of sweeping punches and swats, along with flailing grabs.  He had great endurance, so he had never learned to conserve energy in concise, focused punches and he had never needed to aim incredibly well, since even clipping a foe with the end of a wide swing was enough to put most out of commission.  Still, as their practice fights continued, Thor could see the jade giant starting to pick up some basics. He seemed to be trying to match Thor's stance and aiming his punches more carefully.

It made Thor glad.

Banner, though unquestionably brilliant, was foolish when it came to his alter ego. He vastly underestimated his other half's intelligence and ability to understand. Thor saw the potential in him to be not just a fearsome brawler, but a mighty and noble warrior.

The fight came to an end when Hulk managed to knock Thor off his feet and pin him to the ground under his massive hand.

Thor made to break free, but he recognized a familiar glossiness in his sparring partner's eyes. He'd spent his anger and would soon revert to his smaller form.

"A fine fight." Thor wheezed, his lungs compressed under Hulk's hold. "I yield."

Hulk narrowed his eyes, wary of any possible trickery.

Thor dropped Mjölnir at his side and raised his hands in surrender.

Hulk huffed, but released him.

Thor took a deep breath as the weight was lifted off his chest and he stood up. He stretched, taking note of the places where Hulk's punches had connected hard enough to bruise him. Thor may have been a god, but the Hulk had a punch unlike any other.

Thor looked to Hulk, who was panting heavily. His stamina, when need be, was nearly endless, so it was not their fight that wore him out. It was Banner trying to take control that drained him so. 

Bruce claimed to have little to no consciousness when his other half was in control and only fragmented memories of it afterwards, so he likely was not even aware of his own struggle with Hulk for control whenever the green-skinned Avenger tired, but the battle between the two forces was clearly written on his face.

Thor sat himself down on the floor, cross-legged. He motioned for Hulk to join him.

"Sit, friend." Thor grinned.

Hulk huffed again and sat down facing the golden-haired god. He looked to Thor with a frightened look in his eye. It was a look Thor had seen many a time. On the faces of young men and women called to war. In the eyes of soldiers before battle with an unknown foe. It was the fear of uncertainty.

That's what Hulk's life was, Thor supposed. A constant battle against a foe he could neither see nor touch in a fight he could not comprehend. Thor wondered if Hulk even knew what happened, who he became, when he was not himself.

Thor gave Hulk a reassuring grin.

"You fought well." He said, patting Hulk's arm. "Rest without fear. This shall not be the last time you are wake."

Hulk exhaled deeply and almost seemed to nod. With a great shiver, he began to shrink. He struggled to stay conscious through the change, but lost it at the last minute, going limp and slumping over. Thor caught him just his shape settled back to Bruce's small frame.

Bruce groaned, blinking his eyes open. " I shouldn't have kept that shirt on. It was expensive. I don't have many shirts..." he babbled. "I'm sorry." he added, compulsively.

Bruce's first few moments after changing back were mostly incoherent and he tended to babble. He apologized every single time, without fail. Thor wasn't sure Bruce was even aware he was doing it. Though, this time he had mentioned something else first, instead of just opening with the apology, so Thor marked it as progress.

"Are you alright?" Bruce asked, as he always did.

"Fine." Thor replied, as he always did.

Bruce sighed and sat up.

"Sorry." he said again, though this time with more coherence.  "I sprung that on you with no warning." he continued.

" 'Tis no matter." Thor assured. "Though I would know what vexed you so greatly, if you would share?" he asked. "I take it the conference of press did not go well?"

"No. The press conference was...fine. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary. I just...It's nothing, really." Bruce said dismissively. "It's stupid."

"Come, friend Banner," Thor insisted. "One man becomes wise by talking with another, but foolish by taciturnity." He gave Bruce an encouraging smile.

Bruce sighed, but relented.

"Some reporters started questioning me about The O-...about Hulk." he said. "What my plans were to control him. My backup plan if and when he got out of control. If I planned to...cure myself of him." Bruce's eyebrows knit together. "It was all standard stuff. People wanting to feel safe. I've heard it all a million times." he said, sounded exasperated. "And I don't know why...but this time, I just couldn't _stand_ it."

"Aye. These cowards make no secret of their lack of faith in you, Banner." Thor said, annoyed. He detested this "press", with their endless questions and their conniving ways of twisting words to fit their needs. He had had more than one altercation with them before and it was part of the reason he was no longer invited to such events.

"But," he continued "They do not usually bother you so greatly. Your friends know that you are no monster. I would trust you with my life."

"No, you don't understand." Bruce said. "I wasn't angry for myself I..." A look of astonishment came over Bruce's face. "I...was angry for Hulk."

Thor said nothing and let his friend continue.

"I was angry at them for talking about him like an animal that needed to be controlled. Something that needed...to be cured." Bruce stared at his own hands. His gaze seemed to be a thousand miles away. Likely he had not understood these feelings until putting them into words. He blinked and looked up. "Like I said...it's stupid."

Thor clasped Bruce's arm affectionately. "I understand." he said.

He did understand. Far better than Banner himself, he wagered. He knew that rage. It was the rage he felt when other's harmed Loki or spoke ill of him. He may not always have agreed with his brother, and often was even forced to fight against him, but Loki was, and would always be, his brother and Thor would always love him. It was this same love that Banner felt now for his other side, though he did not yet know it. The love between brothers.

Bruce looked up a Thor. "I'm sorry, again." he sighed. "I shouldn't have let it get under my skin."

Thor smiled. Banner and his other self would come to understand their bond with time, but that time was not now.

"Then I would have been denied such a fine battle with your other self, which I would be loath to do." said, getting to his feet. His grin grew and he helped Banner to his feet as well.

"Come." he said, patting Bruce on the back. "Let us get you clothed and fed and we can discuss this further."

Bruce gave a small smile and nodded.


End file.
